Newgarden Remains on Top in Second Sonoma Practice

Josef Newgarden continued to pace the field at Sonoma Raceway as he led a Team Penske 1-2-3-4 in second practice on Friday.

The current championship leader lapped the 2.385-mile circuit in a best time of 1:16.2485s, which was faster than the official track record, to lead team-mate Simon Pagenaud by just 0.0386 seconds.

Newgarden has a three-point advantage in the standings heading into Sonoma, and the American will be buoyed by the pace of his team, at least in the early stages of the weekend.

All four Team Penske drivers remain in contention for the championship heading into this weekend’s season finale, and Helio Castroneves and Will Power finished the session third and fourth, just 0.0986 and 0.1904 seconds off Newgarden’s pace.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was the best of the rest for Andretti Autosport in fifth, with the team putting all four of their drivers into the top nine, with Marco Andretti, Alexander Rossi and Takuma Sato finishing seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, with only Scott Dixon, currently second in the championship standings, in between them in sixth for Chip GanassiRacing.

Graham Rahal rounded out the top ten for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, just 0.5636 seconds off the pace, while Tony Kanaan, likely racing his final race for Chip Ganassi Racing this weekend, was eleventh ahead of Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais.